The editorial categories are research topics that have guided researchers during the recovery phase and continue to be the impetus behind the Documents Project’s digital archive and the Critical Documents book series. Developed by the project’s Editorial Board, each of the teams analyzed this framework and adapted it to their local contexts in developing their research objectives and work plans during the Recovery Phase. Learn more on the Editorial Framework page.

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Synopsis

Written after a scandalous raid in Mexico City in which forty-two homosexual men were detained, known as the Ball of the Forty-One, the purpose of this article was to contradict what was already generally known: “There are those who state that the individuals arrested included capitalists and other persons in high positions who are members of very distinguished families …” It goes on to clarify that “the truth is that the people who attended that excessively immoral and scandalous event were just a group of more than forty men, very well known for their depraved customs.”

Annotations

During the Porfirio Díaz administration, any press references to sexual heterogeneity were veiled. However, starting in 1901, due to a scandalous raid where forty-two men were detained, many of them dressed as women, the subject assumed importance. From that night on, in Mexican culture, to say "forty-one" was both a reference to homosexuality and an indicator of intolerance.

Through portraits and caricatures, artists such as Diego Rivera (1886-1957), José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949) and Antonio Ruiz (1897-1964) ridiculed and attacked the feminization of a certain sector of Mexican culture.

For five days, El Imparcial (a newspaper published by Rafael Reyes Spíndola, considered semi-official, since it received subsidies) avoided publishing any comments about the event. The newspaper let it be known that it was waiting for government instructions to address the news. Its feeble defense was rejected by other newspapers.